Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting almost impossible to tell if the site was built with a “blogging” CMS software application like the WordPress CMS, or if it’s been created using a web development tool. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what type of web application is actually powering the site.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you picked web site ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will probably turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built with other web editor tools … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful content management software suitable for small, medium and even large businesses.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no web design skills to use and manage, yet it offers an array of helpful extensions that make your website extremely effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is also driven by the WP CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get something similarly built for your business quite inexpensively?
Is It A WordPress Blog?
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard wonderful things about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other content management system.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are powered WordPress:
View The Source Code
If you know how to view the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for obvious telltale footprints …
(Viewing web page source code using the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site is built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” in the source code, it does not necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to try and help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easy ways to check if your website is built with WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, many website development companies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you hired a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your developer or whoever built your site if it has been built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net late at night and need to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the site template has not been modified, you can typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that can tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com
(Is It WP)
Is It WP? is a free tool that tells you if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite simple. Just type in or paste in the address of the site into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then go through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WP-powered website, you will get a message like the one shown in the screenshot below …
To visit this site, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Theme Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer.com
(Wappalyzer)
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome browser and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what software is installed in the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
It’s also a very easy to install and very easy to use browser add-on.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser identifying which technologies are being used by the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Visit the site here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
We hope you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)